Can We Recognise Deception?

How do we know we aren’t being deceived?

There those who say “Believe me” with the intention to deceive – “Buy this idea now!” And of course, there are those who readily believe in that idea, and are part of the deception without knowing it. If we listen, we can hear it in their voice or their choice of words. How pushy are they?

But really, we are talking about the Yanas, the levels of understanding. People cling to these different stages which reveal a certain degree of understanding, and we have to be able to recognise the difference between these levels of perspective eg academic, historical, scholastic etc. The words may be the same, but the understanding differs. If the Buddha said, “Do not take my words for the truth; test them”, then we should do the same for everyone.

We live in a world of confusion and deception;
without either blame or self-promotion,
we try to understand why we are the way we are.

People may sound knowledgeable, but they can pick things up from the internet – and now, AI. If there was a devil, it would certainly use the things that are dear to us. Even the Buddha experienced deception just before enlightenment, and Jesus was also tested.

Going to lectures and retreats, we see the different approaches to what is being taught and the effect this has on people as they become idealistic or overly optimistic, often to the point of being impractical.

It all comes down to our attitude to life. Do we actually care about the person in front of us, or is our attention only on the figurehead, or those afar? Don’t just be a Buddhist; always remember the Buddha’s instruction – to test your empathy.

We also have to ask, “Are we unwittingly deceiving others?”
The question is, “Is our mind – the memory bank of ideas – deceiving consciousness?”